Are you ready to start a business?


  Wednesday, May 17, 2023
  Faculty Focus

By Amanda Alaniz

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – MAY 17, 2023 – In March 2023, UTRGV business professor Derek Abrams was recruited by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO) to help design a new curriculum for the Amazon Small Business Academy (ASBA).

ASBA provides a suite of free, interactive resources and tools for small business owners and entrepreneurs to help start and build their businesses online. CEO is a nonprofit organization that supports more than 16,500 emerging collegiate entrepreneurs annually. A partnership between CEO and ASBA was announced in February 2023.

Abrams, a UTRGV associate professor of Practice with the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship and associate director of the Center for Innovation and Commercialization (CIC), currently oversees the UTRGV CEO Chapter and was awarded the 2022 Outstanding CEO Chapter Advisor of the Year award.

“It’s an honor. I was fortunate to be part of a small group of faculty who were able to participate in this,” he said. “This was an opportunity that came from the work I was already doing with CEO. My philosophy is, I want to see all the organizations I’m affiliated with continue to grow and improve.”

UTRGV business professor Derek Abrams earns reward
Derek Abrams, a UTRGV associate professor of Practice with the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship and associate director of the Center for Innovation and Commercialization (CIC), currently oversees the UTRGV CEO Chapter. He also was named 2022 Outstanding CEO Chapter Advisor of the Year. (Courtesy Photo)

Abrams, along with seven other professors from institutions around the country, worked on curriculum outlines and learning objectives. They also serve as guest specialists in weekly “office hours” as a supplement to educational webinars and on-demand learning.

Giles Hertz, J.D., president of CEO, in a press release said the Amazon Small Business Academy curriculum created is accessible and accommodating for “any stage of startup to learn how to scale and grow their venture.”

The selected faculty divided up the topics they saw as essential to know in the business world.

Abrams specializes in entrepreneurial and international finances, and he focused on financial acumen, finding funding and inventory / in stock.

Abrams encourages anyone interested in learning about a startup or future business to research the ASBA and for local community members to research the CIC.

“With these opportunities, I get the chance to share what I’ve learned. I hope to make a difference in someone’s life who is interested in becoming an entrepreneur,” he said.

Visit https://www.smallbusiness.amazon/ to learn more about the new program.   



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.